The Cripple Creek in Teller County, Colorado is the site
of a number of small gold mines. Cripple Creek turquoise is
found primarily as a by-product of gold mining. One of the
groups still mining the site are the Bad Boys of Cripple Creek.
This area yields some greenish turquoise, and some light to
dark blue turquoise with brown matrix.

Colorado does not have many turquoise mines but the
few that it has are good ones. The stones usually have a lot
of individual character, and vibrant colors. We have not seen
much of this material in many years, therefore consider it
very rare and hard to come by.

Manassa
(King's Mine or Lickskillet Mine)

Manassa turquoise is mined at Manassa in south central Colorado.
It is known for its blue-green to green color with a golden
or brown, non-webbed matrix. The Manassa mine is still in production,
and owned by the King family, thus the alternate name sometimes
used for this turquoise. The current owner of the Manassa Mine
is Bill King. Bill is a wonderful stone cutter and was a wonderful
miner. These days he is sticking more to cutting stone and having
it made into jewelry. The mining at Manassa at this time is
at a stand still. The Manassa mine used to be call the Lickskillet
Mine in the old days. This stone is one of our favorite, the
beautiful green color is VERY striking, excellent when used
in gold.

Villa GroveVilla Grove Turquoise was some of the finest Turquoise
to ever come out of American soil. The Villa Grove Mine in
Colorado is currently covered by a small mountain lake created
by runoff and a natural spring, therefore is not being mine
currently. The Mine was last owned by George Musik and before
that by Menless Winfield. The turquoise is vivid deep blue,
the only other turquoise we have seen with the highly coveted
Bisbee Blue coloration or an absolutely stunning electric
blue, the difference is the matrix is gold rather then brownish
red, and usually a fine spiderweb or dendrites. The high-grade
Villa Grove Turquoise in our opinion is incomparable, definitely
the most beautiful Turquoise we have ever seen including Bisbee,
and Lander Blue! The blue in the high-grade is so blue that
a few cabs will turn a whole wall blue! This stone is very
rare these days, especially the high-grade. Our Favorite!

Example Pictures are not necessarily
the highest of grade, rather a good example of a common look from
a particular mine.

I will continue to add to this list and eventually
attempt to have a listing of all turquoise mines that have existed
in Colorado. I need your help! If you know of another legitimate mining
operation or old mine claim in Colorado, contact me at: durangodillon@gmail.com